


villainies of the graver kind

by amsves



Series: Master and Man (and Other Stories) [11]
Category: Teen Titans (Animated Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bad Things Happen Bingo, Battle, Blood and Injury, Blood and Violence, Crime Fighting, nothing too bad though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-08
Updated: 2018-10-08
Packaged: 2019-07-27 22:57:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16229039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amsves/pseuds/amsves
Summary: They were back to their usual routine of Robin stealing for Slade and the Titans trying to stop him.[Bad Things Happen Bingo]





	villainies of the graver kind

**Author's Note:**

> Anon requested 'blood from the mouth' with one of the Teen Titans ladies getting hurt by Robin. Ask and ye shall receive!

They were back to their usual routine of Robin stealing for Slade and the Titans trying to stop him.

Sometimes the Titans got the upper hand and Robin was forced to forfeit the mission. Sometimes Robin was able to fend them off and complete the objective without further trouble. And sometimes the Titans didn’t show up at all, and the mission was easy work.

It was always the best when they didn’t show. Robin didn’t feel as guilty then.

Fighting his friends really hadn't gotten easier, just sadder. He knew they considered him a villain and had cut their own emotional ties, but he just couldn’t bring himself to do the same. He clung to his guilt and shame as if it were a lifeline, tethering him to that past life when he was still a hero and not the detestable lowlife he’d become. 

But there was a time and a place for introspection, and they were not here and now, in a highly secured vault in the early morning hours. Robin took a deep breath and went back to dismantling the security system, fingers flying across the keyboard with practiced ease. He had a job to do. 

In minutes, the entire system was immobilized, and the blaster was his. Well, technically, it was Slade’s. But the technicalities would have to be saved for later, because Robin was working on a tight schedule.

He knew the Titans would show; the news had been all over this breakthrough in scientific technology. A real-life Portal gun, they called it, just because it acted as a transporter and was stylized in blue and orange. In truth it was nowhere near that impressive or versatile, but Slade had requested it all the same, and Robin had no choice but to retrieve it, despite the fact that the entire city would have their eyes on it in the coming days.

“Stop right there,” a familiar voice said behind him, and Robin tensed. They were here.

He whipped around and threw a smoke bomb at their feet. In the cover of the cloud he darted for the exit, but the smoke dissipated too quickly. Before he could make his escape, Raven grabbed his feet with her magic and he fell face-first onto the floor. He scrambled to get up, narrowly dodging a starbolt one one side of his head and a blast from Cyborg’s arm on the other. He got to his feet just as Beast Boy charged at him in tiger form. 

He vaulted over Beast Boy and was just barely fast enough to make it behind Cyborg. He pulled out one of the many gadgets Slade had given him--a taser of sorts, designed to fit in between chinks in armor and plates in circuitry. In a flash, Cyborg went down, fully conscious but incapacitated.

One down. Three left.

Beast Boy transformed into a vulture and dove at him. Robin threw up an arm to protect his face and, to his amazement, didn’t feel the sensation of claws tearing into his flesh. The metal plating in his suit made it impossible for him to get a grip on Robin’s forearm. Robin took advantage of the second before Beast Boy changed form and grabbed the bird by the neck, throwing him to the ground. He didn’t move, evidently out cold.

Two down. Two left.

Raven next, Robin decided, just as the half-demon started her incantation. He charged across the room, desperately trying to think of a way to stop her speech. Did he have a gag in his tool belt? He had rope, but he probably couldn’t force her to bite it before she finished. Just as she pronounced the last syllable, he punched her in the mouth.

It worked.

Raven aborted the word ‘Zinthos’ and cried out in pain. Robin took the rope from his belt and wrapped it around her head in a crude but effective gag. Her speech would be impeded just enough. He tied it in a quick knot and kicked her in the knee from behind, sending Raven to the ground. He hazarded a glance at her face; the rope in her mouth was red. His punch had made her bleed.

Robin’s gut twisted. He hadn’t meant to hurt her that badly. Hopefully, it was nothing. The Titans took a beating all the time. Sometimes they broke bones. Raven had had a knife to her throat last week! So it was fine. She would be fine.

He hadn’t meant to make her bleed, but he had a job to do.

Three down. One left.

Starfire stared him down across the room, eyes and fists aglow. She was silent, but her fury was etched into the lines on her face, into her battle stance. Robin felt paralyzed by her anger, as if it was pinning him to the spot.

_ “Use the thermal blaster,”  _ Slade said in his ear.

Robin raised the blaster. He didn’t want to use it, but he just might have to, if Starfire didn’t hurry up and attack.

She didn’t. She simply stared at him, silently seething, floating in place. Daring him to strike first.

_ “Robin,”  _ Slade prompted. Robin closed his eyes and fired.

He just barely grazed her shoulder with the shot, but she cried out in pain all the same. Robin took the opportunity to close the gap between them, lashing out with his bo staff and hitting her squarely in the side. She fell to the ground, but hooked her ankle around his leg, taking him down with her. 

Robin produced from his belt Slade’s version of a Batarang and slashed at her outstretched hand just before she fired a starbolt at point-blank range. Blood gushed forth from her open palm. She cradled the injured hand to her chest and kicked him hard in the shin.

The old Robin would have sported a nasty bruise, but the shin guards he had on now meant that he hardly felt a thing. He stood up, keeping the blaster trained on her at all times. “I’m leaving,” he murmured to the device in his ear. “I have the blaster. The Titans are alive but incapacitated.”

_ “Excellent work, Robin,”  _ Slade hummed, and Robin gulped. He glanced at his former teammates, scattered on the floor in varied states of injury, before heading out the door. He had a job to do. 

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from the short story 'Bears in Government' by Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin. 
> 
> Find me and request bingo squares on [Tumblr](http://www.skeletoncloset.tumblr.com)


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